Case 6-Afr-Kongo-Pende-Helmet Mask-Kiphoko-Wood and Raffa-19^th c

Note: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been known as, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, the Republic of Congo-Léopoldville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Zaire, before returning to its current name the DR Congo.

Note: The Kongo people (singular: Mukongo, pl. Bakongo) speak Kikongo, a Bantu language, who have lived along the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, in a region that, by the 15th century, was a centralized and well-organized Kongo Kingdom but is now a part of three countries: DR Congo, the Republic of the Congo and Angola.

141. MASK (KIPHOKO)

Zaire, Pende, W Kasai, Tsbikapa zone, Kitangwa, I9th century

Wood, paint, H. II in. (28 cm.)

The kzloboko mask is a helmet with a flat, projecting lower edge. It is enhanced with red, black, and white pigment and decorated with triangular motifs on the neck and rim. The distinctive nose usually protrudes at a right angle to the face, the eyes are ovoid, and the ears stick out from either side of the head.

These features characterize the abstract style of the Pende of Kasai (although at times this may be mixed with the kind of realism seen in Pende roof-pinnacle figures). Pboko means knife or sword. Kzpboko refers to the sword user or executioner (ngzmza). But the kipboko mask represents the chief of the community, whose formidable character is symbolized by the swords held by the masked dancer. This mask plays a very important sociopolitical role in the life of the Pende living in Kasai. It is linked simultaneously to the power of the chief—even forming one of his attributes, to circumcision rites (mukanda), and to an ancestor cult relating it to various aspects of Pende life. It is said that the mask’s absence from the village can bring on all sorts of disasters. On the social level, the mask is used at the end of the circumcision ritual. Young initiates eat the last bite of symbolic food off its nose and afterward vow to keep the sacred teachings of mukanda secret. The ancestor cult with which the mask is associated encompasses the healing of various diseases and rites of agriculture, hunting, and birth. The use of the mask in these ceremonies reestablishes the balance of life by assuring abundance, prosperity, and fecundity. Other masks, known aspbumbu yafumu, gambanda, pbota, munyangi, mabombolo or kindombolo, and kola, are also connected with ancestral cults, but play different roles.

This mask displays the essential characteristics of the style. Its appeal is lessened, however, by the discontinuous arcs of the eyebrows, which normally extend to the base of the cars. It should be noted, too, that certain Pende carvers treat the nose differently from the one seen here, by slightly flaring its nostrils. Both forms are normal, however.

Malutshi Mudiji-Selnge

The Pende, who are comprised of both eastern and western groups, govern themselves along extended family lineages rather than through chiefly authority. Before 1620 when the Kingdom of Lunda forced both groups to emigrate north, the Pende inhabited a strip between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cuanza River, in what is now Angola. Then, in 1885, the Chokwe put pressure on the eastern Pende to emigrate, but the creation of the Congo Free State under European colonials ended this forced removal.

LC Classification: N1099.C6

Date or Time Horizon:

Geographical Area:

Map:

Fig. Map of Pende removal from between the Cuanza River and the Atlantic Ocean to modern D R Kongo after a base map https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Cuanza.jpg

Fig. Google map of DR Congo showing location of Kitangwa.

Fig. 1. Map of Kongo Cultures, West Central Africa. After Walker Art Center 1967. 9 is Pende.

GPS coordinates: 7° 46' 19.3" (7.772°) S, 24° 17' 44.9" (24.2958°) E

Cultural Affiliation: Pende, Central Bantu

Media: wood, raffia, kaolin, ferruginous earth

Dimensions: H 20.866 in

Weight: 2.52 pounds

Condition: original

Provenance: Kitangwa

Discussion:

References:

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